This invention relates generally to coatings having an anti-thrombogenic material immobilized thereon a surface area of various medical devices in order to prevent acute thrombogenesis, and is particularly useful when applied to intravascular stents. It is recognized that the present invention is not limited to intravascular stents and rather may be used on various other medical devices where the same principles are applicable.
Stents are implanted within vessels in an effort to maintain the patency thereof by preventing collapse and/or impeding restenosis. Implantation of a stent is typically accomplished by mounting the stent on the expandable portion of a balloon catheter, maneuvering the catheter through the vasculature so as to position the stent at the treatment site within the body lumen, and inflating the balloon to expand the stent to engage the lumen wall. The stent plastically deforms into an expanded configuration allowing the balloon to be deflated and the catheter to be removed to complete the implantation procedure. The use of self-expanding stents obviates the need for a balloon delivery device. Instead, a constraining sheath that is initially fitted about the stent is simply retracted once the stent is in position adjacent the treatment site.
A significant concern associated with the implantation of a stent within the vasculature is the potential for restenosis and thrombogenesis which may in fact be exacerbated by the presence of the stent. The pressure exerted by the stent on the vessel wall may increase the trauma that induces hyperplasia and the presence of the stent in the blood stream may induce a local or even systemic activation of the patient's hemostasis coagulation system. Bound proteins of blood plasma, principally the adhesive proteins such as albumin, fibronectin, fibrinogen and fibrin, are known to trigger coagulation. The result is typically the adhesion and aggregation of thrombocytes on the surface of the stent. These proteins include peptide structures, e.g. the RGD-peptides composed of amino acids, such as glycine, arginine and asparagine. The same structures are involved in the adhesion of thrombocytes as a consequence of receptors of the thrombocyte surface, e.g. collagen, von WilleBrand factor and fibrin interactions. The same result may arise with other biomaterials, generally of metal or plastic composition, which are inserted temporarily or implanted permanently in the patient. The deposit of blood clots on the surface of the biomaterial can result from a complex reaction of plasmatic and cellular mechanisms of coagulation that enhance and influence each other. Thus, the implantation of a stent to keep the lumen of the artery open may only hasten re-occlusion by promoting localized blood clotting and reactive inflammation. Indeed, studies indicate that stents and other untreated biomaterials can be covered with a relatively thick thrombus formation only minutes after contact with blood.
Various pharmacological agents have heretofore been used to address the problem both on a systemic as well as localized level. The latter approach is most often preferred and it has been found convenient to utilize the implanted stent for such purpose wherein the stent serves both as a support for the lumen wall as well as a delivery vehicle for the pharmacological agent. However, the metallic materials typically employed in the construction of stents in order to satisfy the mechanical strength requirements are not generally capable of carrying and releasing drugs. On the other hand, while various polymers are known that are quite capable of carrying and releasing drugs, they generally do not have the requisite strength characteristics. Moreover, the structural and mechanical capabilities of a polymer may be significantly reduced as such polymer is loaded with a drug. A previously devised solution to such dilemma has therefore been the coating of a stent's metallic structure with a drug carrying polymer material in order to provide a stent capable of both supporting adequate mechanical loads as well as carrying and delivering drugs.
Various pharmacological agents have previously been employed to reduce or suppress thrombogenesis and various methods have been developed to load such pharmacological agents onto a stent in order to achieve the desired therapeutic effect. However, further improvement is desired both in terms of the anti-thrombogenic efficacy of materials that can be coated onto stents as well as the methods by which such materials are coated onto the stent. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.